Alternative ending of Hunter in Season 6
by TgMouse
Summary: I felt very disappointed with season 7 and the reunion episodes. If there is a time machine, Hunter should end at season 6 with a different way. Let me know whether you like my way or not.
1. Chapter 1

_English is not my first language. I can only use very simple words. __What I wrote is something between a story and a TV script. This story only emphasis the part of the characters. If this is the real episode, it will include the murder case and solution, which should be about 1/3 of the content. I never wrote any fiction stuff before. All the comments and suggestions are welcome._

* * *

><p>In LAPD office at night<p>

Hunter and McCall were busying in investigating another murder case. (Need to design a murder case here, or copy the case in Street Wise, because that episode would be replaced by this one as the END of the show.)

Summer is always the busiest season. Now it was finally September. The overload of the work worn them out. Short of hands was always the problem in LAPD these years and it seemed getting worse and worse. From about two years ago, most of the days they had to work by themselves separately and some times even without backups. During the last a few months, they had to work on two to three cases at the same time. They could not remember when was the last time they left the work before it was completely dark outside.

The clock on the wall of their office pointed to 9:18pm _(September 18, 1984 is the day HUNTER was aired, just use this time to memorize that day)_. Except a few crackers, they didn't eat anything else yet, because they planned to have dinner in a restaurant at such a special night. It was Friday, also was McCall and Steve's anniversary. They both felt exhausted. McCall was a little sad on Steve and more on something else she could hardly describe. Exactly 3 years ago, she shared the best night with Hunter at her house and that was their only kiss in her life. It was also some kind of anniversary for both of them. All those beautiful memories were so fresh and unforgettable ...

During the first 3 years when they became partners, they were very close to each other, even closer than most of the married couples, but that night changed them. Hunter hated himself. Usually he didn't drink, but that night he drank too much and his emotion was out of control. He felt very guilty because he didn't plan to confuse McCall. He loved McCall too much that he sincerely wished her to find someone better than himself to set up a family and live the life she dreamed. However, the flame of love in his heart burning stronger, he could not help thinking about that night. Although he tried to avoid eye contact with her, avoid any banters that could make his face flush, and kept his hands in the pockets, he was not able to control his brain. He dreamed of her very often, but most of those were just nightmares, either she was killed or in great danger. He knew he should not tell her about it, unless she said something first. This feeling was really hurt.

For McCall, after that night, she was waiting for Hunter's responds. It seemed that he just pretended nothing happened, so she had to pretend to ignore him. It was embarrassed to ask directly. Even that night when they shared the bed in the darkness at the bald mountain, he held her tightly to warm her up and told her a terrific short ghost story, but he didn't mention anything about their night. This disappointed her a lot and also hurt her, but they were in the middle of investing a case, so McCall eventually forgave him. She dated a couple of men later, including lawyer, judge, doctor, DA and government officer, but none of them was comparable to Hunter in her heart. He was already part of herself. She realized that it didn't make sense to date anyone else, because Hunter was the only man she loved, but she really needed to know what was in his mind. During the last a few years, she rehearsaled hundreds times in her mind how to ask about it in different versions.

After visiting department's psychologist, Dr. Tate, they both felt much better, but still hadn't gotten a chance to talk to each other again. Too busy was true, but it was also a convenient excuse. Tonight, she finally decided to tell Hunter her complicated feelings, to ask what was in his mind and to plan her future seriously. Hunter thought about exactly the same thing. Again, they didn't talk about it during dinner, because nobody wanted to bring it up first. After dinner, instead of going home for coffee, they decided to watch a movie. They hadn't watched any movie for a long time, last time they watched movie together was more than one year ago. The big theater was not far. The next show was "Ghost", a new movie with very high box office gross. It was a story about "love and death", a love beyond the separation of live and death. (Copy some detail from introduction of the movie). Kitty just watched it two weeks ago. She told them, "You have to watch it, unbelievable great."

In the theater

Hunter and McCall parked their cars and locked their guns into the trunks. Theaters were gun-free zones. At such a nice Friday night, many people came to watch this top-rated new movie. The lines to get the tickets were pretty long. It was a bit too late for them to buy the tickets. There were no good seats left. They bought the snacks, went into the theater and took the seats. They were very close to the screen, in the center of the theater.

McCall, "So close!"

Hunter, "The view will be great! So it is not too bad."

The lights went off as soon as they sat down. Each of them had a drink and shared a big bag of pop corns. Only a few people sat in front of them. In the darkness, Hunter carefully grabbed McCall's hand, held it and used his thumb to rub her smooth palm gently. Neither of them said anything or looked at each other.

The beginning of the movie was bright and happy. In the movie, Sam said "I don't know. A lot of things. I just don't want the bubble to burst... Whenever something good happens to me, I'm just afraid I'm going to lose it..." McCall and Hunter had a glance at each other involuntarily and then turned back to the movie at the same time.

Later, it was getting darker ...

When Sam was about to be killed in the movie, suddenly McCall noticed that there was a man dressed strangely with a helmet and heavy coat in such a warm day walking to the front. According to her professional sensitivity, McCall squeezed Hunter's hand and they exchanged an eye contact quickly.

That guy suddenly pulled out his military semi-automatic machine gun from the coat. Most of the audiences were staring at the dark screen focusing on Sam's situation, very few people noticed the shooter.

Hunter and McCall both felt so regret that they didn't have the weapons with them, but without thinking about anything else, McCall yelled,

"Police! Put down your gun!"

"Everybody get down! He has a gun!"

_(From here, using slow motion) _Meanwhile, Hunter got up, threw his water bottle onto that guy's head and tried to jump on him by running across the top of the chairs. Their seats were too inconvenient to get out quickly. The crazy man was shocked, but quickly pointed his gun to Hunter and fired many shots. Hunter fell down immediately.

McCall smashed her big jar of Soda into that guy's face, almost at the same time, she already reached the guy, jumped on him, pulled him to the ground and held the gun. That crazy guy was still firing, fortunately, nobody was at that direction, many bullets shot into the ceiling and next door._ (Slow motion ends)_

Within a few seconds, an off-duty fireman joined McCall and then the security guards of the theater came, got rid of the gun and put handcuffs on the shooter.

...

Everything happened so fast. The movie was still on while the big lights were also on. The theater was a big mess, everybody were screaming, crying and running out. People saw blood on the floor, no one knew how many people were injured or killed.

On the screen, Molly was heart-breaking sobbing, in the theater, McCall was the same. Hunter was lying on the ground, jammed between two rows of the chairs, face up, blood foams came out from his mouth and nose. His blood ran very far on the sloped smooth vinyl floor and was stepped by the crowded people in the darkness, smeared and stained everywhere. The location he laid was dark and narrow, McCall even could hardly reach him. She was not sure where he was shot and how many shots he got, she felt his weak and fast heart beats and saw his harder and harder breathing. Hunter could not respond her now, just looked at her with his languid blue eyes full with regrets, also showing a faint smile. She tried her best to cover a bleeding hole in his chest to avoid too much air going into the chest and tried to stop bleeding, but it was not useful.

_Oh, my God! I have 6 years, why did I wait until today? Is it too late? It is too late! … _McCall thought. She had so many versions in her mind on how to tell Hunter she loved him, but never knew this would be the real version. She was crying and calling his name "Rick, I love you", "I love you, Rick. Please do not leave me..." "Rick!..." "Hold on, Rick!" ... ... until she lost her voice.

The ambulance came within a few minutes. Hunter was taken to Wilshire Memorial hospital. McCall was holding his hand all the way until the gate of the surgery suite, full of tears.

In the hospital

The surgeries were complicated. It was already Saturday morning and sun shined from the window. All the channels of the TV in the waiting room were broadcasting the breaking news of the theater shooting in Morning News. McCall had been standing out of the waiting room with red swollen eyes for a whole night. Charlie held her shoulder. His eyes were sunken and black-ringed. He also didn't get any sleep that night. He had been running back and forth from the hospital, the theater and the office all night long.

Charlie told McCall that so far besides Hunter, only five other people were injured, two were shot, the others were stepped by the others when they pushed each other trying to get out, some people felt down at the door. Nobody died. Without these three heroes, it was hard to imagine how bad the situation could be. That guy had nearly a thousand bullets with him. This great news neither made McCall feel any better, nor made her feel any worse, she didn't know. Her brain was blank. Whenever she saw anyone came out of the surgery suite, her heart got tight, worrying about the worst.

Finally, Hunter was moved to ICU. He survived! Better than what McCall thought, he was shot only at 2 places, but both were very bad: chest penetration, the life-threaten one; eventually they had to remove two badly damaged lobes of his right lung to stop the bleeding; low abdominal penetration with the bullet went through the hip-joint caused comminuted fracture after damaged multiple organs, which could cause severe infections and need another surgery later to replace the joint.

The doctor told them, "Two shots, one in chest, another at belly with the damage of hip-joint. All surgeries were successful. The bullets were from machine gun within a very short distance, the damages were severe. He lost too much blood. He is really lucky to be alive."

Charlie and McCall wanted to ask for more detail, but the doctor told them, "By privacy rules, I can only release that much information without patient's agreement."

"What's the postoperative outcomes?"

"It's too early to be sure, wait for him to wake up first. If he is stable for certain time without complication and there is no infection, he will be fine."

"Can we see him now?"

"Yes, but he did not wake up from anesthesia. Sign your names at the nurse station, then you can take a quick look. Don't disturb him."

...

xxxxxx

After such a terrible event, Charlie suggested McCall to take one week off. She agreed and was wandering between the hospital and their houses every day, without any plan. Hunter's mom came. She stayed at Hunter's house a few hours at night and spent almost every minute during day-time with her beloved son, especially all his wake-up time. McCall felt pretty awkward, kindly of leaving out. For a whole week, she didn't get a chance to stay with Hunter while he was awake only by herself. She felt she totally wasted her time off.

In the hospital

In front of mom and McCall, Hunter tried his best to pretend that his injuries did not hurt too bad and looked relax and happy. He felt dizzy, tired, short of breath and worried about the future. Even under pain control medication, every breath gave him some pain in his chest and he could not change to any other more comfort position from the way he lay. McCall knew her partner so well, she knew how much pain those bullet holes plus broken bones and huge surgery incisions could be. Thinking about that made her heart shaking. She didn't talk much to him. When he went to sleep, sometimes she sat beside the bed for hours, just looked at him. Mom also tried not to disturb his rest, but she had not talked to Hunter often for many years, so she sat beside the bed, could not help murmuring sometimes.

...

"Ricky, Dee Dee is a good girl. You mentioned her to me so many times that you only have professional relationship with her as partners, but from what I saw during this week, you two are far from 'just friends'. Ricky, I am really happy for you if ..."

"Mom, we are just friends."

"It is obviously that she loves you. Do you love her?"

"Yes, she is the only woman .. I love in the world ... except you, mom."

"So, why don't you consider to marry her? You are already 40 something, you should have a family."

"No, I cannot give her what she wants. ...I am afraid to disappoint her."

"What does she want?"

"I am afraid that I will leave her kids fatherless, ... because of my job."

Hunter's mom started to cry ...

"Mom. I am safe. I don't mean ..."

"You are safe?! You almost die, Ricky!"

"Usually, I am pretty safe ... I am very good at my work ... This time, if I am not a policeman, I would be dead already."

...

"Mom, you know, my job does has some risk, ... although not very high ... She lost her husband ... still hasn't recovered after so many years ... Dad passed away when I was in high school, ... I remember that feeling."

"I am so afraid of losing you, Ricky. I am proud of you, but from the day you went to Vietnam, I have never stopped worrying about you. You liked to fight in school, got in trouble since preschool, even now I had to be afraid everyday, when can you make me feel peaceful in my mind?"

"I am sorry, mom."

"At your situation, do you think you will be able back to regular job after recovery?"

"Don't worry, mom. ... The doctors said I would be full-recovered, ... so I will be back."

Hunter's mom got a little angry, "You are right. It is not fair to ask such a good girl to marry you. Did you talk to her?"

"I told her a few times, kind of..., not directly. ...She will not marry another cop anyway, mom... She told me."

"I can not ask her to marry me, mom."

Hunter's mom sobbed and left the room. She could feel how much McCall loved her son. she knew her stubborn Ricky and she didn't know how long she would continue to worry about him on his dangerous job. Finally, she decided to let them to figure out their own business, because it was complicated for her to be involved in, so she found an excuse and leave the town.

xxxxxx

Next Monday, McCall came back to work, continued to work on their cases all by herself. Every day she went to the hospital to tell Hunter her progress on the cases, like the days when she was in hospital and Hunter reported the work to her. She went to hospital two to three times per day. Some evenings, she really wanted to sleep in Hunter's room at the chair, but every time she forced herself to go home and sleep, so that she could have enough energy to work next day. We can imagine some details between them ...

Here are some funny conversation, such as :

"It's the first time you ever send me flowers."

"No, third time, the first time was 3 years ago, the 2nd time was last week while you were sleeping."

"OK, you only send me flowers three times only."

"Really? How often do you want to be here?"

"See, I saved you a lot of money."

"What do you mean, save me money?"

"The day I asked you to be my partner, ... (a long stop after a few breaths), your florist bills were starting to look like the national debt, remember?"

...

"I am so hungry. They still don't give me any real food to eat."

"Hospital foods are good for you. In fact, I love it very much."

"So, why not we take turn?"

"Take turn?"

"You stay here unmovable and I walk around teasing you."

"How many more times I have been here than you? It's just fair."

_Quick flashback of Pilot:_

_McCall said,"You know, this wasn't a fair deal Hunter, the least you could've done was get shot or something."_

"No, it's not. You love the food here, but I don't."

"But now you started to love it and complained they didn't give you any."

...

xxxxx

Finally, it was the day that Hunter was discharged. These three weeks seemed so long. Since he was officially living by himself, the hospital assigned him a part-time nurse, a very nice young man. He and McCall rearranged the furniture in Hunter's house. Now the bed was in the living room, next to kitchen and there were a few exercise equipment in the living room as well, making it very crowded. Even so, McCall stayed at this house every night.

Of course, while McCall was here, she told him how much she loved him and her feelings while he was dying, etc. She didn't say those in the hospital, because at the beginning Hunter's mom was there, later, they stayed in the hospital room privately, but there were cameras to monitor the patients, plus they both wanted to pretend relax and happy. Now, their honest feelings poured out like waterfalls. Neither of them were able to hold it any more.

...

"When I held your hand in the ambulance, I felt that I was holding Steve's hand. I was so scared. I felt even worse than the day I lost Steve. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and I was not there with him."

"Steve died doesn't mean I would also die. I am stronger than him."

"You lost a lot of blood, looked so pale and helpless. I didn't know how many bullets hit you. Your hand was cold and your breath was so difficult. I really did not know whether it was still possible to save you ..."

"In fact, I also thought I was about to die and I felt so despair that I didn't get a chance to say 'I love you' during the last 6 years. After I was shot, I heard so many more shots. I thought you must be shot as well. I was totally despair ... When I saw you coming back, I was extremely happy that you were still alive, but I believed that we would be separated forever. I tried, but was not able to talk. I had too much to talk to you, but I thought it was too late. I tried to keep alert, telling myself to hold on, never give up, but I was still out of conscious ... I didn't remember the ambulance."

McCall was crying, ... Hunter's eyes were full of tears. Although McCall was afraid to hurt his chest, they still hugged together carefully for a long time.

"I know I could die at any day on duty, that's why I dare not to tell you that 'I love you' for so many years, but didn't expect it could come so sudden, so unexpected and even at off-duty time. I thought I lost the chance forever to tell you or even say 'Goodbye'. My heart was broken when I heard your sobbing and crying. At that moment, I realized how much I don't want to leave you."

"Me, too. At that time, I realized that no matter having that piece of law paper with you or not, I felt you were the same as Steve for me. My decision that 'Do not marry a cop again' doesn't make any difference. It just used to fool myself." ... "Hunter, let's precious every day we have together. Even if we are not cops, we both could be killed that day. We should appreciate every day and enjoy."

"McCall, I love you! I love you since the first week we worked together. During the last 6 years, whenever I closed my eyes, the only one in my mind is you. I am so afraid to lose you."

"I love you, too ..."

Tears ran out from their eyes ...

"If you don't mind, I want to engage with you."

"Of course not, but I cannot offer you what you want."

"Don't be silly. Do you know what I want?"

"Green grass, white fence, beautiful garden, BBQ at backyard, with tiny little McCalls hopping round..."

"Yes and No, what I want most is just you."

"..."

"Do you really not like children? To be honest,"

"To be honest, I really love kids."

"That what I observed during these years, but why you told me that you don't want to have a family or kids?"

"... Hard to explain, because I don't want risk my kids to lose their father and I don't want you to have the idea to marry me. I know you want to have kids and you are willing to give up your job if necessary, but I am too dedicated to it and cannot give up. You know our job is not suitable to have a family. ... Maybe I am too selfish."

"That's not selfish. I am too selfish. I also could be killed at any day, but I still want to have a family. I love my job, but family is more important for me. I want to have a stable life, a husband and kids. I am too afraid to lose you, so I dare not to tell you how much I love you and how much I want to set up a family with you."

"..."


	2. Chapter 2

In the police department

McCall was working on her cases. She solved the last 2 cases all by herself. With a big relief, she submitted the reports.

Charlie asked McCall to his office, same opening sentence every day, "How is Hunter doing?" Then, he started the real conversation as usual.

"Congratulations! According to your annual evaluation submitted in July, you are qualified to be promoted to Lieutenant".

"Wow, Thank you! How about Hunter?"

"He was qualified a few years ago, but every year he turned it down."

"Really? He never mentioned that to me."

"He asked me do not tell you."

"Why?"

"Ask him why. This year, I even didn't submit the promotion paperwork for him. I guess I should do that now, since you are also qualified, huh? It's a little late, but not too late yet. The bad news is that you will not be partner with Hunter any more. In our department, lieutenants don't have assigned partners."

"I know that. That's maybe why."

"Hunter will not come back to work very soon. I will not assign you any temporary partner or any new cases, just go ahead to wrap up your work. Department might assign new job for him as well."

"What is his new job?"

"Don't know yet, depends on his medical report and the requirements from the department ... Another good news, Hunter and you will be awarded the Medal of Valor, highest honor in LAPD, because of your extraordinary bravery and heroism in the theater shooting incident. Even off-duty, both of you didn't forget your responsibility to protect the city. It's not official announced yet, but it's 99% sure."

xxxxx

At Hunter's house

After coming back from hip-joint reconstruction, Hunter didn't get a nurse, because he no longer lived by himself.

In the evening, Hunter sat at a high bar chair watching the news. McCall was cleaning up the kitchen and came to him with the pills and water.

"After a 12-year-old boy was killed by police officer, he was found to play with a BB gun which looked like a real one." They both froze in front of the TV. McCall put the water on the counter, turned to Hunter and buried her face to his chest. Hunter held her and put his face to her hair. They closed their eyes. The flashback was shown in their minds: Hunter forced to kill a 15-year-old boy who shot them in the parking lot ... McCall was thought to shoot an unarmed guy ...

McCall, "The life as cops is tough. Any mistake could kill innocent people or ourselves."

Hunter, "Yes. That guy is so stupid!"

"The judgment is within 1-2 seconds. Both you or me could make the mistake like that."

"I will not make that mistake. I never did."

"Everyone makes mistakes. If you ever made one, you are not here."

...

Hunter switched off the TV, took the pills and McCall handled him the crutches and helped him to get up.

…..

Later at night, they both lay in bed.

"If I had my gun handy that night in the theater, I would not be in hospital twice and make you work as a nurse for so long. That guy should go to the hell."

"No problem. It's my pleasure to be your nurse, Sergeant."

"But it's not my pleasure to be disabled, Lieutenant."

"It's just temporary. In fact, if something haven't happened, you never know the results. If our seats were at the back row, we were not able to shoot him, but his machine gun could easily kill us."

"I mean our seats were still the same seats. I am sure I could shoot him down before he fired. I never missed. Damn gun-free zone rule!"

"Come on, you even didn't see him when he showed up and pulled out the gun. It was me who saw him. Plus, he wore helmet and vest."

"If everybody have a gun in the theater, he dared not to bring a gun there."

"If everybody has to bring a gun to watch a movie, Hollywood would have already closed. We will not have any movie to watch."

...

McCall turned off the lights.

"Hunter, during these years we work in the department, how many colleagues were killed?"

"I didn't count. About 10 to 15, including Steve."

"Most of them were killed by the gun. We both were also shot a few times. Gun-free should be really gun-free, not only gun-free for people who obey the rules. I wish the whole nation is really gun-free. Can you imagine?"

"That will be very nice. But how about a knife? Nobody is allowed to have any knife as well? Then how about anything else that could kill? Including bare hands? It is people who kill, not the guns."

"I disagree. The only purpose of the gun is to kill. Nothing else. Why everybody need to have a gun prepare to kill someone? Something is wrong here."

"It's the constitution. Nothing is wrong here. Everybody has the right to bear a weapon to defend himself."

"So whenever any big shooting accident happened, did the victims use their guns to defend themselves? Never!"

"Because the shooters were prepared, not the victims."

"That's the point. It's unpredictable. It's impossible to have everybody having their guns ready at every moment. Then, our city will become a war zone and we are trying to tame an uncivilized world. So for most of the people, whenever the gun is needed, it is not ready, so what's the point for everybody to have one? Handy for suicide?"

Hunter agreed, "That's right, only the police officers should have the guns. If that is the case, I already asked you to marry me many years ago."

McCall frowned and gave him a big eye-rolling in the darkness.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot, in that case, Steve is alive. I apologize." McCall laughed out loudly and kissed Hunter's cheek sweetly ... Hunter smiled. He dared not to laugh again. After McCall lived with him since he was back from the hospital, he already made a few mistakes to burst into laugh and hurt himself.

xxxxx

In the auditorium of LAPD

A big ceremony, everybody, including McCall and Hunter dressed in police uniforms. After the talks given by the big guys, McCall pushed Hunter's wheel chair to the front stage and they both accepted the medals from the Chief. Then each of them had to give a short talk, although neither of them liked to speak in public:

Hunter: "... I am just one of the victims of the shooting. McCall is the real hero... She noticed the gun-man, asked everybody to hide and stopped him ..."

McCall took out a piece of paper she wrote last night and read: "..."

The mayor of LA and the representative of the witnesses and victims with their families send them flowers.

Many journalists took their pictures and asked them questions ... They were the biggest heroes that year in LA.

Commander Lester D. Cain came to them:"Congratulations, Hunter and McCall! When I was your captain, I assigned you two as partners. I knew that you were the best in the whole LAPD. Time proved that I was right. Are you going to claim disability and retire now? After getting tax-free pensions, you can take new jobs elsewhere. You guys are helping the State government to bankrupt faster."

Hunter:"Thank you for your consideration, Commander. I think you should take disability retirement, since your already show symptoms of memory loss. Brain is more important than any other organs in our body. If Dr. Bolin is still alive, you should make an appointment with him. "

A few officers were whispering at the corner,

Officer A:"Brass Cupcake and Head Hunter! It was almost mid-night and off-duty. Why were they still together?"

Officer B:"Are you deaf or blind? It's well-known that they sleep together for years. Their captain covered them. This is the evidence that it is no longer a rumor."

Officer A:"I know that. I also know how they got the highest case solving rate by breaking the department rules. That woman always pretended to be a hooker and she picked up locks to break in places illegally."

Officer C:"Department will also promote both of them, only because he was shot."

Officer B:"It's not fair. They just happened to be there, maybe for a dating."

...

xxxxxxxxxx

At Hunter's home

It was Saturday. Hunter was sitting at the bar counter and cutting vegetables. McCall was cooking in the kitchen. Charlie stopped by on his way to somewhere. McCall opened the door for him.

"Hi, McCall, how are you?"

"Pretty good. Captain, come in, please!"

"I stop by to see how Hunter is doing."

"He is much better. Now he is helping me cooking."

...

Charles walked into the kitchen. He could tell that McCall seemed lived here for quite a while and he totally understood.

"How are you? How is your feeling?"

"Great! Captain. Can not be better, except a little boring during day-time." Hunter answered, with big smile, pointing to a bar stool for Charlie to sit down.

"Don't worry. You will be busy soon. You will miss your time off. When you are back to work, you guys will not be partners."

"I know, but we will be off-duty partners, 16 hours per day, instead of 8 hours."

"What do you mean?" although he knew what that meant.

"We are engaged. We will print out the wedding invitation cards soon, it will be March 25, Spring Break week for public schools, so families with kids can come. Are you coming?"

"Sure, that will be my happiest wedding, besides myself's."

"You will also have one soon?"

"No, I mean 28 years ago ... By the way, within a few days, you both will receive letters from the department that you will be promoted and they will send you to the LAPD Academy for six months of training, including some forensics science courses in UCLA, called Continuing Education before taking the new positions."

"New positions? What's that?"

"Not completely new. I am still your boss. You two will be group leaders as lieutenants. You have to work independently. Now the new technology brings in many new ways on homicide investigation. You need to know these back in school, so that when your inferiors tell you something, they can not fool you. I wish I had the chance when I was promoted."

...

A few days later, at dinner table in Hunter's house

...

"McCall, you are so good at cooking, but you never told me."

"I do know how to cook and have a lot of knowledge on nutrition."

"Why do you only eat 'five basic categories' of food?"

"When I live by myself, I don't have the right mode to cook. How about you? Besides toast bread, what else you can make?"

"Pasta, salad, maybe BBQ occasionally with family together. Same as you, everyday when I got back home, it passed dinner time and I was too exhausted to cook. If you live here everyday, I will learn how to cook. My mom is a good cook. I cooked with her when I was in high school, but never did it again after that. I can pick up quickly."

"Great! After your heal, I will sit at a couch, watching you cooking meals for me. You, not your mom."

Hunter had a long sigh after a deep breath, "I don't know when I will heal. This time it takes so long. In the rehabilitation center, even that old woman with my mom's age walked better than me. We had surgery at the same week."

"Don't worry. It takes time. Your situation is more complicated than those who with simple joint replacement. The normal recovery time varies from a few weeks to 9 months. You will be just fine."

"I know that, but we will go to the Academy within a few weeks. I can hardly put any weight onto this leg and all the surgery areas are still hurt. I really feel nervous on handling those intense courses."

"When the doctor asked you about the pain, why did you lie to him every time? Now you know the problem. You'd better stay at home longer with patience and I can ask Captain to sign you in to the next section."

"No, I want to go together with you."

"Why? You want to copy my homework or ask me to do the group projects for you? I typed almost all the reports for you at work. You want the same thing for school? I am not your secretary."

"I do not mean that. We are partners, remember? You do whatever you are good at and I do those I am good at. If we don't go together, our partnership ends now. It's the last 6 months we will have."

...

xxxxxx

In McCall's car

Both McCall and Hunter wore uniforms. McCall was driving. Hunter was checking stuffs in his backpack, nervous and exciting. They had not been in school for too many years. It was the first day for them to go to school, also Hunter's first day back to work. Doctors suggested him to be partially back to duty, because he had a few hours of rehabilitation exercises to do everyday, but the courses in Academy and UCLA were not designed for part-time study, so there was no choice. He promised to do it at night and at home.

They drove by the theater. The red light was on and they waited in the line. Both of them turned to look at it, where they almost separated from live and death. It looked normal, reopened a while ago, nothing special.

"Thinking about that night, was there any better way that we could stop that guy without being shot?"

"McCall, how many times did you ask this question?"

"I know. I always feel that we might have made some technical mistakes or something. We didn't learn this kind of situation from the Academy."

"Are you a nerd? Academy will not teach you everything."

"I believe there could be a better way, but we didn't have time to figure out at that moment."

"Can you figure out anything now?"

"I don't know. I still can not figure out."

"You can not figure out now. How could you figure out then? In such situation, what we did might be the best possible way. In fact, we were lucky. He could shoot both of us at the same time. If I was not shot, you would be shot for sure. Fortunately, the headshrinker PhD was not experienced with his gun, otherwise, nobody in the theater could escape."

"I think the reason why you were shot, but not me is because of my big soda. That stuff is as spicy as pepper spray when touching the eyes."

"Don't try to convince me to drink soda, McCall. You can not trick me."

...

Show these scenes quickly (5-30 second each), 2-3 scenes of school and one scene of home, alternatively:

In LAPD Academy and/or UCLA,

Hunter and McCall were in lectures.

Hunter was using a computer.

McCall was looking through a microscope.

Hunter was loading DNA samples into DNA sequencer.

McCall was singing and playing piano at an Academy party.

Hunter was reading a HPLC spectrum.

McCall was measuring a bullet track.

Hunter was the only audience watching his classmates playing basketball at the gym.

McCall was presenting her work.

Both Hunter and McCall got trophies from pistol shooting competition.

...

At Hunter's house,

Hunter was blowing to the tube and McCall was checking the forced expiratory volume for him and wrote into the log book.

McCall was reading research papers at the desk and Hunter was riding an exercise bicycle.

Hunter was raising weight lying on the pad and McCall was working on their homework using a type-writer.

McCall was folding the laundry clothes on the sofa and Hunter was walking on a treadmill.

...

xxxxx

Wedding

A beautiful day, green grass, white fence, many flowers. McCall dressed in pink gown. Hunter dressed in black suit. He walked pretty well. For kids who didn't know his story in the theater shooting might wonder why he didn't have a top hat to match his cane.

...

"I, Richard Hunter, take you Dee Dee McCall, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part ..."

After their kiss, Hunter whispered to McCall, "…You and me? A marriage made in Disneyland becomes true." McCall laughed and pushed him away, as she always did.

_Show a quick flashback of Pilot show of that scene._

Finally, McCall threw the flower back to the guests. Hunter and McCall turned back watching Charlie with flower in his hand, they said "Works for me!" and looked at each other. All 3 of them in the screen with happiness, then the screen was frozen for ~10 seconds.

xxxxx

A song sing by SK started, until the end of the whole episode ...

Quickly show these scenes (10-20 second each):

1. They got Continuing Education certificates at the small ceremony in the classroom

2. Hunter BBQ in the backyard, nice grass, beautiful weather, McCall was reading a book in a chair next to him watching him cooking

3. McCall was directing her group through the microphone in her office

4. Hunter was reading a report and yelling his people at his desk

5. Hunter and McCall were in the court of the trial of theater shooting

6. McCall and Hunter were shopping in the supermarket

7. They were swimming in the ocean and chasing on the beach

8. The judge announced the gunman in theater shooting was not guilty. McCall were crying in Hunter's arms. Hunter was glaring at the lawyer and the suspect with his burning eyes. He really wanted to shoot both of them.

9. They were at Steve's grave. McCall put down a bunch of flower and Hunter stood next to her, holding their baby

10. They were in Ben's graduation ceremony in UCLA

11. They were in a discussion of a new murder case. Both of them were drawing something on the blackboard and talking to a whole room of detectives, assigning work to them. They looked like great leaders.

12. Hunter was playing tennis with Ben and pregnant McCall was playing with the toddler next to the court

13. Thanksgiving dinner, Hunter's mom, Hunter, McCall, Ben, Ben's father and two little kids were eating together after they thanked God, freeze the screen again.

"The END"

Finally, show these white words at black background:

**"Rick Hunter, retired as a captain at 60 years old in 2006. He realized that the most efficient way to stop criminal is to prevent it instead of using his gun to solve it. He started to try to run for Congressman since 2008, but didn't succeed. He also set up a radio, talking about his view on education, healthcare, community safety, criminal, law, etc. His dream is to make his city LA peaceful and make United States stronger. He is still dedicating on it. Dee Dee McCall-Hunter is working in Training Division in LAPD, also teaches some sections in Human Relations at the LAPD Academy. Ben Nyuen (Hunter's son born in Vietnam) graduated from the law school in 2001 and is working in LA as a homicide lawyer. In 2015, their son, George Hunter, is in graduate school studying computer science. He is one of the best swimmers in California. Their daughter, Elizabeth Hunter, is in college. Her major is Forensic Science and plans to go to medical school. She is the first chair violin in the university orchestra. The gunman in the theater shooting was found not guilty by reason of insanity on June 21, 1992. After finishing his 8 years of confinement therapy in hospital, he was now living at home in LA ..."**

If making more shows after this big end, at some suitable places, some funny conversation can be added, like:

"You want to ski? Plan to break your expensive hip?"

"It is life-time warranty."

"Fine, if you don't mind they need to cut you open to repair it, just go ahead."

Since there are some forensic science contents added in this script. It's easy to gradually transfer the focus of the show from shooting and car chasing in the street to investigating evidences in the lab, etc. It could replace CSI if the producers control the show with the right direction around 1990.

**Notes:**

1. "Ghost" is a real movie in 1990, in fact released just after Season 6 and before Season 7. In the movie, Sam and Molly are lovers, so do H and M in my story, even if they didn't tell each other. "Ghost" is a movie about "love" and "death". I tried to create a similar plot.

2. Theater shooting is real. 12 people were killed and 58 were injured (Colorado, 2012). The killer was a PhD student studying Neuroscience.

3. Policeman mistakenly killed a 12-year-old boy with toy gun is also real (Cleveland, November 2014)

4. Medal of Valor, highest honor in LAPD, is real. It is an award for bravery, usually given for individual acts of extraordinary bravery or heroism performed in the line of duty at extreme, life-threatening, personal risk. It recognizes officers whose actions could be considered as having gone above and beyond the call of duty, or to recognize an officer who has performed an act of bravery displaying an extreme amount of courage while knowingly facing imminent danger.

5. Reason of insanity is true. President Reagan was shot in 1981. His shooter was found not guilty by reason of insanity on June 21, 1982.

6. Criminal rates are much higher in summer than any other season is real. You can search the reports through internet.

7. California State Government bankruptcy is real. Abuse of retirement with disability of police officers is also a problem in that state.


End file.
